Son of Cordillera People’s Democratic Front spokesperson missing

Ednar Dayanghirang, a local Cordillera activist and leader, during a joint panel with the NDPF during Cordillera Day 2011 in which the subject of persecution against activists, families of activists,and the militarization of the region was discussed (photo courtesy of Northern Dispatch).

Grayson Naogsan, son of Simon Naogsan who is the spokesperson for the underground national democratic organization Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front (which is part of the NDFP), has been missing since men who identified themselves as police took him away in handcuffs at the mall in Luneta Hill in Baguio City.

Accordingly, five civilian-clad police intelligence agents took Naogsan at around 3PM on November 5 while he and his companion were having coffee at a huge shopping mall on top of Luneta Hill here.

Naogsan and his companion were reportedly shown a warrant of arrest that indicated his name while handguns were poked at their sides discreetly.

Naogsan was handcuffed and was separated from his companion. They told his companion that they will take Naogsan to “Camp Crame”, Baggo claimed.

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CHRA expressed outrage on Naogsan’s arrest, “his family is deeply worried and in distress that they do not know his whereabouts and his condition,” Baggo said.

Before his arrest, Baggo said, two men who identified themselves as CIDG personnel asked for information about him around their neighborhood and reportedly even implied that there was an amount of P500,000 for any tip on Naogsan.

Baggo claimed ‘the longer Naogsan is detained in an unknown location worsens the violation of his rights.’ “We demand for the surfacing of Naogsan and that his family and his counsel be given access to where he is.”

The Cordillera Human Rights Alliance (CHRA) came out with this press release condemning the arrest of Naogsan:

Grayson Naogsan, son of Cordillera Peoples Democratic Front (CPDF) Simon “Ka Filiw” Naogsan was arrested by men who introduced themselves as policemen and is now missing. He was arrested last November 5 at around 3:00 PM by 5 civilian-wearing men who introduced themselves as policemen while he and his companion were having coffee in SM Baguio.

The policemen showed Naogsan and his companion a warrant of arrest that indicated his name while handguns were poked at their sides discreetly. They handcuffed and separated him from his companion. They told his companion that they will take Naogsan to “Camp Crame”.

Naogsan was led out of the mall through the backstairs by three of the men and used a jacket to cover his handcuff.

At around 5:00, the wife of Naogsan called his cellphone and he said that he was already out of Baguio and was allegedly being brought to Camp Crame. His arresting officers, one of them is a certain “Joey”, sternly said that he cannot use his cellphone. Naogsan’s wife last heard of him in the morning of November 6. He has been out of reach since then.

His wife, who sought assistance from the Cordillera Human Rights Alliance and the Karapatan National office is currently searching for Naogsan in various military and police camps in Metro Manila. It has been forty eight (48) hours since Naogsan was arrested and held incommunicado. He has yet to be surfaced.

Naogsan’s wife and KARAPATAN went to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Complaints Referral Action Center (CRAC) office in Camp Crame last November 5 and 6 respectively. Both offices said that they had no knowledge of operations conducted to arrest Naogsan and that they did not have Naogsan in their custody.

“We strongly condemn his arrest and that he remains missing to this day. His family is deeply worried and in distress that they do not know his whereabouts and his condition.” Jude Baggo, secretary general of CHRA said.

Baggo related that prior to his arrest, two men who identified themselves as CIDG personnel asked for information about him around their neighborhood and implied that there was an amount of PHP 500,000 for any information that can be given to them.

Baggo reiterated that the longer he is detained in an unknown location worsens the violation of his rights. “We demand for the surfacing of Naogsan and that his family and his counsel be given access to where he is.”

He stressed that in Aquino’s counterinsurgency program, Oplan Bayanihan, which uses the slogan “peace and development”, civilian kin of known revolutionaries are targets for attack. “Such act is a living proof of the Aquino government’s desperation to win its brand of peace and continuing state terror under his ‘daang matuwid’ premise.”